IN PICTURES: Pupils set sail on trip of lifetime

And on the ship's return to the UK it was time for Black Country teenagers to hop on the SS Uganda.

Yesterday we featured images from the Staffordshire trip out of the Express & Star archives, and today we look back at the second leg, which saw 500 youngsters from the Dudley area join the trip in November 1982.

And they were the last group to take on the trip of a lifetime on the SS Uganda – with the vessel returning to the Falklands to be used as a storage ship shortly after.

They flew to Vienna and boarded the ship, undeterred by the prospect of rough weather, despite the Egypt stage of the previous cruise being cancelled.

Dudley education official Doug Wooldridge said he had spent 18 months planning the trip – and started to panic when the ship was drafted in to the Falklands effort earlier in 1982.

The expedition was organised by the schools and supported by the Express & Star, with our reporters and photographers joining the pupils on board.

They were whisked away on 14 coaches from schools in Dudley, Stourbridge and Halesowen to Gatwick Airport.

Two Stourbridge boys, 14-year-olds Simon Godwin and Keri Pay, almost couldn't make the trip because of leg injuries – but both managed to persuade doctors to remove their plasters early.

Simon, who had a knee infection, had his plaster taken off the day before they left, but still had to use a walking stick during the voyage.

Keri had twisted his ankle playing rugby two weeks previous.

He told reporter Louise Jew: "I shall still have bandages on, but I'll be able to walk without the crutches. Nothing was going to make me miss this cruise."

Redhill was the largest school party on the cruise with 119 pupils, and 14-year-old Sally Stringer said: "Our cruise mistress has made us do lots of research into the places we'll be visiting.

"I'm looking forward to Jerusalem and the Holy Land most of all." Pupils from Grange School in Stourbridge were the first to be invited on to the ship's bridge, meeting Captain Michael Bradford with 14-year-old David Price taking the helm.

He told the E&S: "It's great. I'm really impressed with all the instruments up here."

The pupils also had a ride in the Uganda's lifeboats, which ferried them ashore to Dubrovnik to walk along the ancient city wall and explore marble paved streets.

Tracey Evans, 14, of Redhill School, Stourbridge, said: "It's very exciting in the lifeboats.

"We got on to them from a pontoon next to the Uganda and got a lovely view of the city on the way in."

The teenagers quickly became firm friends and developed their own in-jokes. Wordsley schoolgirl Michelle Hall got a reputation for being even louder than the ship's siren, with her father David admitting: "Yes, it's true – she's just the same at home.

"She's never quiet and can't stop talking."

The pupils were also given the VIP treatment in the city of Dubrovnik, where the ancient walls were thrown open for them to walk along when they would normally have been closed in the afternoon.

They got a bird's eye view of the city's narrow streets from the mile-long walls, which are up to six yards wide and 75ft high.

Meanwhile, the intrepid travellers also stopped off in Rhodes where they bartered for souvenirs and explored the beautiful island in temperatures of up to 70F.

They were also given a pat on the back by Captain Mike Bradford, who said their behaviour had been 'excellent' and added: "They are a credit to the West Midlands."

Some of the pupils will have been far more familiar with the canals of Dudley than Venice – but they got the chance to ride on a gondola through the iconic city.

Their whistle-stop tour continued with a walk around the promised land of Israel before a leisurely ride through Cyprus.

And lucky parents Derek and Pauline Davies won the E&S competition to hear a first-hand account of the cruise over the phone from their son Sean, 14.

The days flew by in a whirlwind and, before they knew it, the pupils were approaching the final stages of their adventure.

They had a second chance to use the Uganda's lifeboats as they docked in Bodrum, Turkey, which cruise operator P&O had only recently reinstated into the programme.

There was a break because the Turkish residents used to insist the children went ashore in local fishing boats at a fee. But the boats were found to be dangerous.

While the dream trip continued for her friends, Alison Pope was left wondering what might have been, after she was taken to hospital with appendicitis the day before she was due to join the trip.

The 13-year-old, of Lower Gornal, was sent a giant postcard by her friends while she recovered at the Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge.

The final goodbyes to the ship were all the more poignant because it was the last Dudley schools party ever to cruise on the Uganda.

The ship was returning to the Falkland at the start of 1983, and an E&S report on the final journey the youngsters, said: "Many of the tears shed on the gangplank at Malta will be for other children who may never have the chance of the experience of a lifetime.

"Special thoughts go out to the 233 Indians from Calcutta who serve the children and cabin passengers – and who will lose their jobs when Uganda returns to the Falklands."

The photographs collected here have been in the E&S archives for decades. They were originally published in a series of updates from the ship, straight from reporters who went out there with the youngsters.

If anyone recognises themselves, they are being urged to get in touch with reporter Adam Burling on adam.burling@expressandstar.co.uk or 01902 319501.